Nice people thread 2 - now even nicer

PasturesNew

For those interested in libraries ... a leaked report's suggested that of the 40 libraries across the county here, they should close 26, leaving 14 open.

SingleSue

Parents review evening last night for year 9 pupils...middle son is in year 9.

We had some very good moments, some ok moments and some surreal moments (Who are you? Do I teach you? - middle son's French language teacher)

Got informed that middle son will def be doing the higher maths GCSE rather than foundation as he is already assessed as a 7c (assessment done this week) whilst his aspirational target for the entire year was a 6a - he is already doing top set work. The teacher wants more...and middle son is happy to give him more (now where on earth did he learn to do compound blooming interest? One of the questions in the assessement)

Music - his teacher is over the moon with him and he is already surpassing all expectations, he has already said he wants to do this at GCSE.

English - Making good progress (hey, we can actually read his writing now and he is actually writing between the lines instead of one sentance, one page!) but they are going to organise some one to one training as his timing is not so great...he gets lost in the question and then can't move on until he has solved it (part of his aspergers).

French was the silliest one, he is good at French (I have been teaching all the boys since they were babies) and has always been ahead of the class but his teacher didn't even recognise him let alone know what he is currently doing/attaining! His excuse was the term is young and he hasn't taught them very often, middle son reports he has had him for at least 4 lessons.

Art - awkward moment time when after she had sang his praises and said how good he is, she asked him if he was going to be doing art at GCSE, middle sons reply "Probably not"....she was lost for words and I started uttering inane crap just to fill the silence.

Everything else was fine, a few issues on remembering instructions (think the teachers have forgotten they are supposed to write in his memory book or are just assuming that his memory has magically got better over the summer - it won't, he has brain damage).

Eldest didn't take the news well though (especially the maths bit)- he is still convinced he is the stupid one in the family no matter what I, or his teachers say.

silvercar

PasturesNew wrote: »

For those interested in libraries ... a leaked report's suggested that of the 40 libraries across the county here, they should close 26, leaving 14 open.

In our area they are retaining all the libraries but reducing opening hours.

tomterm8

I guess it is inevitable, but I hate the idea of closing libraries, or reducing library opening hours... Maybe it is the old Liberal in me, but I see education as a fundamental requirement for a capitalist society to function... with literacy and a library, someone with a bit of nounce can learn practically any skill known to humanity.

silvercar

vivatifosi wrote: »

Message for Silvercar:

If you live where I think you live, the council responsible has some info re the school transport policy changes and how to have your say on its front page at the moment.

Thanks.

I'm fuming about this. Not only does it mean loads more cars on our already congested roads, but the environmental impact of the extra cars.
I would have thought that moves towards equality would have meant that services provided so that mothers can actually put the children on the coaches then go to work would be protected.

No vested interest; my children are no longer on the coaches.

LydiaJ

SingleSue wrote: »

Parents review evening last night for year 9 pupils...middle son is in year 9.

We had some very good moments, some ok moments and some surreal moments (Who are you? Do I teach you? - middle son's French language teacher)

Got informed that middle son will def be doing the higher maths GCSE rather than foundation as he is already assessed as a 7c (assessment done this week) whilst his aspirational target for the entire year was a 6a - he is already doing top set work. The teacher wants more...and middle son is happy to give him more (now where on earth did he learn to do compound blooming interest? One of the questions in the assessement)

Music - his teacher is over the moon with him and he is already surpassing all expectations, he has already said he wants to do this at GCSE.

English - Making good progress (hey, we can actually read his writing now and he is actually writing between the lines instead of one sentance, one page!) but they are going to organise some one to one training as his timing is not so great...he gets lost in the question and then can't move on until he has solved it (part of his aspergers).

French was the silliest one, he is good at French (I have been teaching all the boys since they were babies) and has always been ahead of the class but his teacher didn't even recognise him let alone know what he is currently doing/attaining! His excuse was the term is young and he hasn't taught them very often, middle son reports he has had him for at least 4 lessons.

Art - awkward moment time when after she had sang his praises and said how good he is, she asked him if he was going to be doing art at GCSE, middle sons reply "Probably not"....she was lost for words and I started uttering inane crap just to fill the silence.

Everything else was fine, a few issues on remembering instructions (think the teachers have forgotten they are supposed to write in his memory book or are just assuming that his memory has magically got better over the summer - it won't, he has brain damage).

Eldest didn't take the news well though (especially the maths bit)- he is still convinced he is the stupid one in the family no matter what I, or his teachers say.

That sounds mostly good Sue.

Don't worry too much about the French teacher. While obviously it would be best if teachers always prioritised learning about the special needs kids, in fact they are human and they make mistakes. If you are trying to learn the names of lots and lots of kids whom you've never seen before, then 4 lessons with each class isn't enough to get them all clear in your mind unless you have a phenomenal memory for faces. Some years it's easier and you have several classes you've taught before, so you only have a few classes to learn, but other years you arrive in September and can have 200 names to learn. This year I had 41 new faces to learn, and I only do 42.5% of a job in an independent school with very small class sizes. I think it was about a couple of weeks ago (after about 8 lessons with each class) that I started feeling really sure that I knew them all, and I still wouldn't put money on being beyond getting a name wrong once in a while.

Sorry to hear about eldest taking it badly. Just keep telling him that it's normal for families to have one who's better at English and a different one who's better at maths. One day maybe he'll start believing you.

Davesnave

SingleSue wrote: »

Parents review evening last night for year 9 pupils...middle son is in year 9.

Sounds pretty positive overall though, Sue.

School coaches were withdrawn while my DD2 was using them, resulting in us adding to the crosstown traffic. The 'business miles' our van travelled showed a significant increase!

In the evenings, she usually walked the 3+ miles home, as it was quite a pleasant route and substantially downhill. Later, as she went through 6th Form, walking both ways became quite normal, because she found the 'thinking time' that walking afforded was really useful.

lemonjelly

Davesnave wrote: »

Sounds pretty positive overall though, Sue.

School coaches were withdrawn while my DD2 was using them, resulting in us adding to the crosstown traffic and the 'business miles' our van travelled increasing significantly.

In the evenings, she usually walked the 3+ miles home, as it was quite a pleasant route and substantially downhill. Later, as she went through 6th Form, walking both ways became quite normal, because she found the 'thinking time' that walking afforded was really useful.

I walk a lot. I prefer walking where-ever possible.
I have moments of amazing clarity sometimes, when walking.

michaels

My DD1 apparently produces prodigious quantities of writing but with very poor speeling and sentence construct. No idea where she gets from. However I suspect the teacher doesn't know which child she is as she was described as helpful, conscientious and eager to learn whereas actually she is the world's youngest teenager at age six.

lemonjelly

michaels wrote: »

My DD1 apparently produces prodigious quantities of writing but with very poor speeling and sentence construct. No idea where she gets from. However I suspect the teacher doesn't know which child she is as she was described as helpful, conscientious and eager to learn whereas actually she is the world's youngest teenager at age six.

:rotfl:The irony....:D